"Receive the children in reverence; educate them in love; let them go forth in freedom."- Rudolf Steiner
I often look at Emma’s watercolor creations and cannot help but wonder why toddler art is so undeniably captivating. Ultimately, I believe that the answer to this question lays in the fact that young children have an innate capacity for reverence and wonder. They are not yet limited by common constraints from the outside world and are unequivocally free to explore their own creativity in shape, color, dimension, and depth. All without externally imposed limitations that can impede an adult’s innate freedom of exploration. I think that receiving children in reverence is the most vital aspect of a holistic education and can be applied on a much larger scale. Here, it is our role as caregivers to respect the value of our children’s childhood and to provide them with the unrestricted space and time to explore and discover the world around them. We are ultimately responsible for cultivating their imagination and allowing them to create without limiting their own process of discovery. I truly believe that receiving our children in reverence supports their unique journey of self discovery and will allow them to eventually meet the outside world with a greater sense of freedom, purpose and possibility.
Your homework for today is to grab some watercolor paper and to create a wet-on-wet painting that is no longer limited by the external rules of art and composition. Your goal is to truly paint from the heart and to revere the process without constraining yourself. Feel free to share your results in your stories and tag me. I would love to see your beautiful and free creations.
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